Sunday School: The Meaningful Life

What path will you choose? How will you live out a meaningful life? Who wants to be a failure?

Aren’t the accomplishments that are most satisfying those requiring sacrifice and effort, the meeting of a challenge and overcoming it? Isn’t this the theme of inspiring movies we love and just about every sports movie ever made? Rarely do we tire of moving stories where the little guy conquers against all odds or where truth and justice persevere. How interesting would movies be if the main characters regularly failed to succeed in their quest to overcome and succeed?

Flip it around now; how inspiring would a movie be if the supposed “hero” had everything handed to them without effort and gained everything they desired. Would you take them seriously? Would you respect a person that achieved much from nothing? Wouldn’t you come to dislike this person if they insisted they deserved it?

Christ is our role model and He calls us to practice His witness of self-sacrificial love in both small and large ways. Denying ourselves what we desire at times to sacrifice for the other helps us to grow stronger in faith and as a human person… really they are inseparable, just as we are body and soul, a mystery of unity.

There is something deeply interwoven into each of us that understands to truly value something, whether it be an accomplishment, honor, title or even physical item, it must have come at some cost or with some struggle. One of the great lies straight from the pit of hell is happiness is a state derived from pleasure and leisure. The really profound moments of life only occur after sacrifice, this is why we fast before great feasts. In fasting we prepare ourselves for the great feast we are to participate in. We struggle to empty ourselves from all of the “junk” we hang onto that is of the world in order to have the space be filled with the life and gifts of God. Recall also when celebrating a great feast, or struggling to fast before one, you are doing so in communion with those who came before you and even those who have yet to come. Truth be told, we are only capable of small glimpses of true sheer joy. These fleeting moments can have life altering consequence urging you forward to become closer to God the source of all life. Were it not this way, we would develop a spiritual sweet tooth or that of an entitled child expecting a treat at every turn and focus on the gift and forget the Giver. It’s normal to feel periods of spiritual dryness and distance. The voice of the saints and mystics is to just keep going. Struggle and sacrifice always wins out in the end and you can write a new story of valor in your own family and community.

From the Saints and Others

“The reality is that you were created to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, so that God in all of His infinite majesty could impart His life to you. That’s what salvation is. It means to receive God’s life in all of its totality in your heart and in your life and to be so united with God, without confusion, that His life becomes your life. When God’s eternal life becomes yours that means you’re saved.” – Schema-Archimandrite Sergius, abbot of St Tikhon’s Monastery

An ex-Chinese Buddhist and now a monk on Mount Athos wrote: “In Buddhism…you are very, very much alone. There is no God. Your entire struggle is with yourself. You are alone with yourself, with your ego. You are totally alone in this path. Great loneliness…. But here you have an assistant, a divine companion and a fellow-traveler in God. You are not alone. You have someone who loves you, who cares about you. He cares even if you don’t understand Him. You speak with Him. You tell Him how you feel, what you would have hoped for – there is a relationship. You are not alone in the difficult struggles of life and spiritual perfection.” (Excerpted from Mystagogy; translated by John Sanidopolous)

On Disputes

Last week we asked.. What can we know? What should we know? Is science the only arbiter of truth and knowledge? Is only experimentally derived knowledge true?

We are surrounded by those who believe science is the only real judge or avenue for acquiring truth. Many have bought the lie that Religion is unnecessary, superstitious or even dangerous. The truth is, as Dr. John Patrick discussed in the video from last week, Christianity gave birth to science. Christianity created the culture and belief system where the investigation and exploration of the physical world is both good and even possible since it’s God’s world. Scientists make careful observations of the natural world to make general conclusions and then test those hypotheses. This process is called “inductive reasoning”.

As Dr. Patrick so eloquently stated, to actually do science you must first believe in a world of order. Without order, life has no meaning whatsoever. It’s especially important in the age in which we live to understand more deeply how Christianity and Science are not enemies, but that Christianity birthed science and are thus related.

Sadly, most people you will encounter throughout your life regard religion, Christianity in particular, as backward thinking irrelevant to our modern age. Religion is for people who are just ignorant and stupid. Without knowing it, they have made science into a “religion” or sorts. As a consequence, “modern man” has pushed faith out of the public sphere and thus God to a far distant realm. Fr. Stephen Freeman refers to this as the two story universe. We live on the bottom floor and God lives upstairs occasionally popping downstairs for a quick peek when the kids get too noisy or are unhappy. Our Byzantine Faith teaches us, however, the universe is not separated, as in the prayer we sing “Heavenly King, Comforter you are everywhere present and filling all things…” God is with us!

Just as science is not possible without belief, how we can we know what is right or wrong. What is fruitful or not? Can morality be determined without belief, without our Holy Faith? We will discuss this next week. Watch the video below for an introduction to this line of thinking. “Both religion and science require a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations… To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view.” – Max Planck, the Nobel Prize winning physicist considered to be the founder of quantum theory, and one of the most important physicists of the 20th century, indeed of all time.

Challenges

Read from one of the Gospels for three minutes every day. Take two minutes afterward to think about what you read.

Choose a prayer space at home for a daily conversation with God. Make sure a Bible is handy for your use along with any images or items (natural or man-made) that help you focus your mind on God.

Practice your listening skills. Meet with a close friend or family member. For a full five minutes, listen attentively, asking questions as needed.